White Wings Bring Death

Chapter Three

Chapter three: Black-wing Tribe

I looked around when we finally landed; it wasn’t far from the ruins though it looked a lot like them. Flowers bloomed everywhere except in the paths formed on the ground, though unlike the ruins there where little crumbled homes, some with sheets or patched up roofs that latch. I didn’t see anyone in the sky or down in the village until we landed, and then it seemed like many people with black wings simply appeared, some even very young.

They all looked at us, but once they saw Alexandru the mummers began in excitement. “My son, have you come with a bride?” Came an excited voice of a man with a very brassy voice. The man emerged, but his voice did not match his body at all. While his voice was booming and deep, his body was thin, his nose pinched and eyes beady. How this man was Alexandru’s father was beyond me.

“An honored guest father, the princess Arasala from the only winged kingdom; she is my and Emilio’s guest.”

“No bride? Time is wasting; I’m fading fast my son. You are the only one with enough patience to have a willing bride.”

“I’m not interested in ruling, nor is anyone worth pursuing wanting to spend their days with me. I have told you this before, why do you think my answer would change?”

Alexandru’s father bit his lip, his face clearly unhappy but he swallowed his pride and looked at me with a smile. Though he looked like a gangly old man I saw age in his eyes, it was as if he was starving to death in body. “You’re dyeing?”

“My mate, she died some time ago, I was a very lively man back then. I married again, Emilio’s mother but my true mate left a hole in my heart. She was my true mate, and I cannot survive without her. It’s hard to stomach food and the little I do leaves one way or another. Not long from now I will die, and only my son’s will be able to take my place. It’s much like when a child dose not fly, gets sick and dies.”

“I’m very sorry.”

He smiled at me softly. “Ah child, do not be, though I thank Emilio’s mother for trying, my true mate and I are bonded by soul and when I die I will follow her. So I will be at peace, it is the way of our people. Come, Emilio and Alexandru will arrange your quarters. I would very much like to tell you more of our tribe.”

“Father.” Alexandru said sharply glaring at him.

“She is a winged one, we welcome any and all of our kind.” He said innocently.

Emilio shifted food, it seemed he didn’t have leave to speak though from his body language he very much wanted to.

“I’ll be alright.” I told him smiling.

Alexandru looked at me, as did Emilio and I simply smiled at both of them and turned to follow their father into the stone house he came from. The crowed had already begun to thin out before I followed him, and now that I had the rest went back inside or went into the woods.

The small stone house was filled with smoke, but it was a sweet smoke that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. There where bright tapestries everywhere, jewels garnishing many items in the house, and many plush cushions and chairs.

Alexandru’s father sat among the cushions, wrapping a very colorful blanket around him. “The smoke is for my breathing, it seems lack of diet I have developed fluid in my lungs, the smoke helps the pain though it dose nothing to anyone else. I detest herbs that alter our healthy state unlike other tribes. Have you been to other tribes?”

“No.” I replied sitting on a cushion so we where sitting some what equally. “This is the first time since I’ve been outside the castle walls since I was a very small child.”

“Have you flown before?” I looked at my knees and shook my head lightly. “Ah, I see why they would grant you leave then.” He rubbed his chin and sighed. “It reminds me of a story though.”

“Story?”

“Once long ago when the tribes where still every color of the rainbow, and elves still protected the land there was the first black winged-one appeared. He was considered a cursed creature, and yes only the cursed one is born in our tribe but back  then there was no cursed one because the gods where still creating the basic plan. There where none other of his kind, the black ones where not suppose to live because it was not part of the grand design. He was the first outcome unplanned just as humans where, and vampires. Even more unexpected is that his destiny could not be set to die, and so as a ripple effect he could change the outcome of things planned by the gods. He fell in love with an Elf, a very special elf who was supposed to mate with another very angry blood thirsty elf. The union was supposed to calm his spirit and together they would bring forth a new generation of elves that would last eternity. “

“But there aren’t any elves.” I said confused. “And here you guys are.”

“They changed destiny, they changed the plan because she too fell for him. The gods where most displeased and tried to right the equation. Finally he was brought down.”

“By what?”

“The elf she was suppose to marry, he was turned into a vampire.”

“A vampire!? How?”

“Elves are not suppose to kill, so the fact that destiny was changed, the gods decided on a punishment that would punish all creations that stepped out of destiny’s web. He killed an animal and became one of the dark creatures.”

“So what happened? Did he die?”

“No, he was meant to though.”

“What happened?”

“They married.”

“Married?” I asked confused.

“Marriage for humans is very frivolous; marriage for us is to connect souls. They married, and not even now may the god’s part them and no matter what happens they will find their way back to one another if ever reborn, and have no need to marry again for they are already as such.”

“What dose this have to do with me in any way shape or form?”

“Many years back there was a woman who was dying because she could not fly, I was just a child at the time but even I skittered away from her. There is nothing worse then smelling a diseased ridden winged-one. But while dying in the forest she met a man, a simple man.” He looked at me with steady eyes, piercing into mine. “And she lived. She never flew a day in her life; she chopped off her wings and left her child with us who later became my bride. She was not a Halfling, because when we marry the child is always a full winged-one.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I see death in your eyes, fear, something I’ve seen many times in the sky battles. You must marry.”

I furrowed my brows and stood. “I think Alexandru was right to distrust you, I was here to listen and learn about your tribe. I will not be pushed to marry anyone; I am a princess, my veins pulse with royal blood and to be told there is some mystical cure for death. Well sir I don’t care whom you are but I will not be given false hope even if it is from my best friend’s father. I may fear death but I will face it without flinching, without wavering.”

He looked up at me with pity. “I understand.”

“If you did, you would not have tried to marry again, because you feared death and following your mate. You would have followed willingly, or saved her even if it meant your life.” I replied, and I couldn’t stand being in his sight any longer, so I left the hut and left the little village, just to be alone in the forest. Alexandru would find me if he wanted me, he was always good at finding me even in the woods outside the castle. People like that, always made my stomach curl.